Randy Foster: TV the way we want it (sort of)

Published: Sunday, July 20, 2014 at 03:33 PM.

Looking for ways to cut costs at home, we decided we didn’t need cable TV.

We kept internet, but cutting cable TV will save us about $80 a month.

I’ve thought about doing this for awhile. There are a few programs we enjoy — “Game of Thrones,” “Walking Dead,” things like that — but we found ourselves watching less cable TV and more streaming programming from services like Netflix.

Cable TV is too much into bundling. They are generalizing themselves out of the market. They set up tiers of service that boost the monthly bill and the number of channels, but for every hour of useful programming each day, I got hundreds of hours of shows that I will never watch.

And frankly, I don’t want my money subsidizing some of the rubbish that’s on TV these days.

If they want us back, they need to allow better customizing and lower prices.

In New Bern, Suddenlink is the only cable TV provider. Outside New Bern, Time Warner is the provider. There are satellite options, but I am not a fan and getting internet requires going DSL from a third party provider.

Looking for ways to cut costs at home, we decided we didn’t need cable TV.

We kept internet, but cutting cable TV will save us about $80 a month.

I’ve thought about doing this for awhile. There are a few programs we enjoy — “Game of Thrones,” “Walking Dead,” things like that — but we found ourselves watching less cable TV and more streaming programming from services like Netflix.

Cable TV is too much into bundling. They are generalizing themselves out of the market. They set up tiers of service that boost the monthly bill and the number of channels, but for every hour of useful programming each day, I got hundreds of hours of shows that I will never watch.

And frankly, I don’t want my money subsidizing some of the rubbish that’s on TV these days.

If they want us back, they need to allow better customizing and lower prices.

In New Bern, Suddenlink is the only cable TV provider. Outside New Bern, Time Warner is the provider. There are satellite options, but I am not a fan and getting internet requires going DSL from a third party provider.

The same day the cable guy came to disconnect our service, I saw an article reporting that some cable TV companies provide an HBO-internet-only option, which sounded right up my alley. So I contacted Suddenlink via its website chat service and asked if it offered something similar.

Here was their answer:

“If you add advanced digital cable with HBO the monthly would be $130.50” — including internet. “This would be the basic expanded channels. The channels would be $29/month, $17/month for HBO and the receiver would be $7/month. If you just add the basic channels and HBO it would be $126.23.”

That puts us back almost to where we started, so I politely declined.

Once upon a time cable TV offered about 60 channels that included HBO for right around $40 — and they didn’t charge you for the receiver. (But they didn’t provide internet, either.) Now they cram hundreds of video and audio channels down your throat, many with commercials, some with hours of infomercials, and then charge an additional $7 per month for the device you need to receive those mostly useless channels.

Suddenlink offers other services I also don’t need, like telephone (we use mobile phones exclusively; it’s not that hard to tell a 911 operator where you’re calling from) and home security (we have Gracy, our German shepherd; gotta love her).

Now two of our three TVs still work in this post-cable TV world. One is a smart TV with a variety of channels, including Netflix, and an HD TV hooked up to an Apple TV, which has its own variety of channels including Netflix.

Going without cable TV is a choice we may not have jumped at were it not between seasons for “Game of Thrones” and “Walking Dead.” The TV industry is leaning toward providing alternatives to cable TV, and a lot of quality programming is already available on the internet.

Then there is the option of switching TV off entirely, but that’s crazy talk.

Thanks for letting me take up some of your Sunday morning.

Randy Foster is editor of the Sun Journal. He can be reached at randy.foster@newbernsj.com or 252-635-5663, or follow him on Twitter @rivereditor.